TV Action - July 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action comic had The Doctor starting a new adventure, Dr Who In The Vortex.

In issue 126 reader Simon Still wrote in to ask about the origins of The Master.
His Time Lord status is the answer.

In issue 127 reader Andrew Chamberlain wrote in to ask what TARDIS stands for.
Everyone should know that answer!






In issue 128 reader Andrew Hutchinson wrote in to ask why The Doctor likes Earth so much.
A recap of the event of The War Games explains the situation.



Issue 125 and 128 have a half page advert for the 1973 Doctor Who Holiday Special - price 10p!

But the jewel of July 1973 has to be the Droppy / Doctor Who cross-over comic strip!

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 125

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Dr Who In The Vortex pt 1

art by Gerry Haylock

also Cannon, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, UFO

Issue 126

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Dr Who In The Vortex pt 2
art by Gerry Haylock

also The Protectors, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, UFO

Issue 127

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Dr Who In The Vortex pt 3
art by Gerry Haylock

also Alias Smith and Jones, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Cannon, Dad’s Army, UFO

Issue 128

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Dr Who In The Vortex pt 4
art by Gerry Haylock

also Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Cannon, Dad’s Army, UFO

TV Action - June 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action comic had The Doctor appearing in a one-off 7-page story, The Labyrinth.

After resting for an issue, The Doctor returns in another one-off 7-page adventure titled in a weird prediction of modern Who, The Spoilers!

Issue 120 has a reader’s letter asking for a photograph of Nicholas Courtney as The Brigadier (see left).



Issue 121 123 and 124 run the half-page advert for the 1973 Doctor Who Holiday Special again (see right).

Issue 124 also carries a full page profile of The Brigadier, which would have pleased the letter writer a few issues before.

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 120

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - The Labyrinth

art by Gerry Haylock

also Cannon, The Protectors, Droopy, The Persuaders!, UFO, Dad’s Army, Hawaii Five-O

Issue 121

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also Hawaii Five-O, Cannon, The Protectors, Droopy, The Persuaders!, UFO, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith and Jones

Issue 122

Contains comic strips of

also UFO, Cannon, The Protectors, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith and Jones

Issue 123

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - The Spoilers

art by Gerry Haylock

also Cannon, The Protectors, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith and Jones

Issue 124

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also The Persuaders!, Cannon, The Protectors, Droopy, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith and Jones

TV Action - May 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action comic started a brand new The Doctor adventure, Back To The Sun, having been rested for a number of weeks.

In issue 116, the TV Screen Scene page had a feature about Jon Pertwee’s home life with wife Ingeborg with children Shawn (Sean) and Dariel.





Just below this feature is news of the first three books in the Target novel series.

Issue 119 has a half page advert for the 1973 Doctor Who Holiday Special - price 10p!

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 116

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Back To The Sun pt 1

art by Gerry Haylock

also Alias Smith and Jones, Mission: Impossible, Droopy, The Protectors, Cannon, Dad’s Army, Hawaii Five-O

Issue 117

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Back To The Sun pt 2

art by Gerry Haylock

also The Protectors, Mission: Impossible, Droopy, Cannon, Dad’s Army, Hawaii Five-O

Issue 118

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Back To The Sun pt 3

art by Gerry Haylock

also Cannon, Mission: Impossible, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, UFO, Dad’s Army

Issue 119

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Back To The Sun pt 4

art by Gerry Haylock

also Mission: Impossible, UFO, Droopy, The Persuaders!, Dads Army, Hawaii Five-O

TV Action - April 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action comic had The Doctor burst back onto the cover to promote a special self-contained seven-page adventure, The Threat From Beneath, featuring his arch enemies – the Daleks.

The exciting return of the Daleks was short-lived, as Doctor Who was dropped from the comic for the rest of the month.

The return of the strip was trailed in the last copy of the month, issue 115.

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 112

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - The Threat From Beneath

art by Gerry Haylock

also The Persuaders!, UFO, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith And Jones

Issue 113

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also Hawaii Five-O, The Persuaders!, UFO, Droopy, The Protectors, Cannon, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith And Jones

Issue 114

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also UFO, The Persuaders!, Mission: Impossible, Droopy, The Protectors, Cannon, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith And Jones

Issue 115

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also The Persuaders!, The Protectors, Mission: Impossible, Droopy, Cannon, Dad’s Army, Alias Smith And Jones

TV Action - March 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action comic had The Doctor beginning a new adventure in The Glen Of Sleeping, having been rested for a couple of weeks.

In the letters page of issue 109, reader Alan Christopher bemoaned the Yeti, who had not been seen since The Web Of Fear in 1968. The BBC stayed tight-liped, not that there was any news anyway!
The letter was accompanied by a photo of Jon Pertwee from his casting photocall where he is being carried by a Yeti!


The next issue, D Mills of Worcester raised that old chestnut of how come the TARDIS is bigger on the inside!
Rather than address the question head on, the editor cites Einstein and the Apollo space missions with enough smoke and mirrors to dazzle the average reader.

Another letter in the same issue has reader Henryk Jachimcryk of Braintree asking for a photograph of a Sea Devil to use as reference for a mask he wanted to make.
We must remember in those days the use of photographs in publications were at a premium, so were few and far between, and colour images were largely only used on covers or special pull out posters. Reproduction was at the best of times poor.

The next issue carried one of those rare colour photographs from Doctor Who, when Roger Delgardo was the subject of a back cover character profile.

Click the issue title to view the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 107

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who -
The Glen Of Sleeping pt 1

art by Gerry Haylock

also UFO, The Protectors, Cannon, Droopy, Alias Smith And Jones, Dad’s Army, Mission: Impossible

Issue 108

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who -
The Glen Of Sleeping pt 2

art by Gerry Haylock

also Alias Smith And Jones, The Protectors, Cannon, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, Dad’s Army, Mission: Impossible

Issue 109

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who -
The Glen Of Sleeping pt 3

art by Gerry Haylock

also The Protectors, Cannon, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, Dad’s Army, Mission: Impossible

Issue 110

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who -
The Glen Of Sleeping pt 4

art by Gerry Haylock

also Cannon, The Persuaders!, UFO, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, Dad’s Army, Mission: Impossible

Issue 111

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who -
The Glen Of Sleeping pt 5

art by Gerry Haylock

also Mission: Impossible, The Persuaders!, UFO, Droopy, Hawaii Five-O, Dad’s Army

TV Action - February 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, the recently renamed TV Action comic had The Doctor concluding Deadly Choice, before an unusual seven-page self-contained story in issue 104 (warranting a return to the cover).
Missing two weeks, The Doctor would return in issue 107.

Issue 105 has a small feature on the men inside the Daleks, with a photograph of John Scott Martin sitting in a Dalek base between takes on the closing scenes of Frontier In Space.

Issue 106 carried a letter from reader James Russell in London, changeling the letter in issue 101.

The original letter asked how the voices of the Daleks were achieved, and the answer referred to a photograph the publishers forgot to include! This omission was corrected alongside the new letter.

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 103

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Deadly Choice pt 3

art by Gerry Haylock

also Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, UFO, Alias Smith And Jones, Dad’s Army, The Persuaders!

Issue 104

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Who Is The Stranger

art by Gerry Haylock

also The Protectors, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, UFO, Alias Smith And Jones, Dad’s Army, The Persuaders!

Issue 105

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also Hawaii Five-O, The Protectors, Cannon, Droopy, UFO, Alias Smith And Jones, Dad’s Army, The Persuaders!

Issue 106

No Doctor Who strip in this issue

also The Persuaders!, The Protectors, Cannon, Droopy, UFO, Alias Smith And Jones, Dad’s Army, Mission: Impossible

TV ACTION + Countdown - January 1973

Exactly forty years ago this month, TV Action + Countdown comic had The Doctor continuing his adventure Zeron Invasion, concluding in issue 100.

Not strictly Doctor Who related, but issue 100 has an interesting feature about the building of New York’s Twin Towers, including a photo of them being finished off.

Issue 101 saw the start of a new story, Deadly Choice – and a massive change to the comic, when the Countdown name finally disappear forever.





Back in issue 46 the TV Action name was introduced as a byline to the title, becoming Countdown for TV Action. Over the course of future issues, the Countdown name was progressively pushed to second billing. From issue 57 it became TV Action in Countdown; issue 59 saw the title become TV Action + Countdown, with the former taking the prominent place; and from issue 101 it became TV Action outright.

The revamp also saw Doctor Who dropped from its regular place on the cover, having appeared there unbroken for the previous forty-two issues.

In the letter page of issue 101, reader Andrew McGibbon of Twickenham asked to know how the voices of the Daleks were made.

The reply included a call to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who explained how it was done. The answer makes reference to a picture of a ring modulator in use – but for an unknown reason the picture was not published!



Issue 101 carried news of the theft of two Daleks from outside the offices of a record company on Newman Street on 5th December 1972. The Daleks were on loan to promote the record Who Is The Doctor.

The story carried on in issue 102, with a photograph of one of the missing Daleks.
It also outlined the single featuring the voice of Jon Pertwee, printing some of the lyrics.

I cross the void beyond the mind,
the empty spec that circus time.
I see where others stumble blind,
to seek a truth they never find.
Eternal wisdom is my guide –
I am, The Doctor!

Issue 102 also saw a reference to the Cybermen. It was in the form a of letter from a reader bemoaning the lack of the silver fiends since 1969.

Sadly there was no news of their return to report.

Click the issue title to view
the complete comic in PDF format.

Issue 99

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Zeron Invasion pt 6

art by Gerry Haylock

also UFO, Autocat and Motormouse, Hawaii Five-O, Zero X, Mission: Impossible, The Persuaders!, Fireball XL5

Issue 100

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Zeron Invasion pt 7 (misslabelled as part Six)

art by Gerry Haylock

also UFO, Autocat and Motormouse, Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible, The Persuaders!, Autocat and Motormouse

Issue 101

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Deadly Choice pt 1

art by Gerry Haylock

also The Protectors, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, The Persuaders!

Issue 102

Contains comic strips of
Doctor Who - Deadly Choice pt 2

art by Gerry Haylock

also Canon, Hawaii Five-O, Droopy, Mission: Impossible, Dad’s Army, The Persuaders!